Geddy Lee

Geddy Lee is the singer, bassist, keyboardist, occasional rhythm guitarist and bass pedalist. He is usually playing more than one instrument at once whilst signing at the same time.

Talking about singing, you really can’t talk about Geddy without mentioning his unique voice. I suppose many dedicated Rush fans have sort of gotten used to it, and it’s a lot milder nowadays but when he started, Geddy’s voice had one hell of a screech. Seriously high pitched, and I mean high! I reckon he would have made an awesome black metal vocalist. And then when I think that I imagine him with all the corpse paint on his face and, well, man that would be funny.

But it’s his bass playing he’s best known for. Easily amongst the greatest bass players of all time he is, basically, a genius. He makes that instrument sing. When you listen to Rush the base guitar is given as much prominence as the vocal, guitar and the drums. In most rock music you can barely make the bass out at all. With Geddy, it becomes a lead instrument, as well as a rhythm instrument. Many prominent rock bassists count Geddy as one of their main influences, including Steve Harris of Iron Maiden, Les Claypool of Primus and the legendary late Cliff Burton of Metallica. Rush shows, I think, were the only shows where there were as many air bassists as air guitarists!

Geddy has brought out a solo album entitled “My Favorite Headache” which, is a great, great album. One of the reasons I love Rush is Geddy’s skill. You can go through every song and just listen to his playing. It’s so wonderful, clever, technically brilliant and he makes most of it all sound so straight forward to play. Until, of course he plays something and you think to yourself – how the hell did he do that? So, not only is he a genius – he is also a magician.